


Heartstrings

by Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:16:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10071107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall/pseuds/Guardian_of_the_4th_Wall
Summary: How terrible it is. To love something death can touch.





	1. Heartstrings

_This is... this is the story I will never be able to tell... It's a story about my Family. To tell you about them, I have to start with my Father, and to tell you about him... I have to tell you about my Mother. She was a scientist, she was beautiful, and she loved her children more than anything else in the world. All twenty-nine of us... As for the man she fell in love with... he was an octopus. He was taller than the average male human, and he was bright yellow and had tentacles... But was he really an Octopus? My siblings thought so. Manami especially..._

"My Daddy is an Octopus!"

Five minutes prior to that rather strange outburst she had been sitting at the front of her first grade classroom with the biggest smile on her face. She was so excited to be going to school, and she was so happy when she received her first assignment.

"Draw your hero and then come up to the front of the class and tell us about them," the teacher instructed.

She worked so hard on her drawing. Almost wearing down the yellow crayon in her crayon box to color it in, and then it was time to show them.

"This is my Dad," said one of her classmates. "He works for the embassy. He's my hero because he keeps peace between our country and others."

"This is my Mommy," said another girl. "She's a lawyer, and she's my hero because she makes bad guys go to jail so I can sleep at night without worrying about them."

On and on it went, but none of them had a hero quite as good as hers…

Finally the teacher called her name and she got up holding her picture close to her chest because she didn't want anyone to see until she turned it around.

She faced her classmates smiling. "My hero is my Dad," she said and she turned the picture around to face them. "And... My Daddy is an Octopus!"

The whole class was silent for a moment, but then they erupted in a fit of laughter. The smile slowly fell off Manami's face…

"What…" she said softly…

"Your Dad can't be an octopus."

"That's stupid."

"She's lying…"

"I am not!" Manami said frowning holding the picture. "He is an octopus! And he's my hero because he takes care of me, and my siblings. One time I had a really bad fever and he took me up into the sky so it would help my temperature. Another time, I fell out of a tree and he caught me even though he was really far away. And I really wanted a toy rocking horse when I was little, and he carved one from wood in seconds! I—"

"Sweetie," The teacher said putting a hand on her head to try and get her to stop talking. "The assignment was to tell the class about a real life hero…"

"But my Daddy is real!" she explained holding the picture up as though it were the only evidence she needed.

"Um… maybe you should take your seat…" her teacher said giving her a tiny nudge towards her desk.

She walked back hearing her fellow students hissing snide comments at her, and by the time she had returned to her seat her glasses were fogging up from her tears… Karma was right… School IS stupid. She didn't want to go back. Though she supposed, it really was her fault she was even here in the first place…

* * *

(A Week Prior)

_Everyone thought that place was haunted. They said it was because they could hear the sounds of playing children when you got close enough, but the locals knew better than to investigate. People would say, it was the sound of murdered children who ventured too close to the monster that dwelled inside. Sometimes elementary school children would dare each other to get close, but few people were ever brave enough to go too near the abandoned temple. No one ever made it far enough to see the building before something would scare them and they'd run off._

_Overlooking the rumors, the place was actually an old shrine located a good thirty minute walk straight back from a highway and into the woods. It was run down, and had its own well which (last time realtors had gone there) still functioned. But no one had gone there in a good number of years, and it was precisely a four years ago that the rumors began..._

_However, no one knew what was really going on there. Like all rumos it was only a matter of time before someone found out…_

"Whaaaa!" Nagisa cried tears in his eyes, one of his shoes had already slipped off. He could see it lying in the bottom of the river. "Put me down…" he pleaded.

"You want me to put you down over the water? Really?" Karma teased. He was holding Nagisa over the river near their home by his torso, using the limbs coming out of his neck.

For being as little as he was, he was surprisingly cruel and Nagisa, being the smallest boy at home, was his favorite person to pick on. He lowered Nagisa slightly towards the water and his cries got louder. It wasn't deep... Honestly, even for as short as he was, he could probably have stood up in it and it would only have come to his waist. Though he a rather irrational fear of water and so that small little stream he was held over top of might as well have been an ocean for as much as it terrified him...

A gust of wind blew by, and Nagisa was out of his grasp. Karma blinked turning towards the yellow tentacled alien in a black robe who had appeared. He was holding Nagisa close and looking slightly stern. "Karma, I believe I told you a hundred times to stop picking on Nagisa…" the creature scolded.

A slight frown formed on the red head's face, his limbs (which matched his hair color) retracted back into his neck.

"I wasn't either," he answered.

Nagisa was clinging to the creature's robe, "He was so…"

"Tattle tale…" Karma exhaled looking away stuffing his hands in his pockets as he did so.

"And what have I told you about using your limbs to hurt or scare others."

"Uh… don't…" he answered.

"That's right…" the creature set a sniffling Nagisa on the ground. "Now why don't you find someone else to play with, and be nice to them…"

Groaning as he did so he turned heading back towards the house and the creature placed a limb on Nagisa's head to get him to look up. "Nagisa, you need to learn to stand up for yourself, if Karma picks on you, fight back."

The very idea of fighting back against Karma seemed to terrify the poor boy, and his eyes started brimming with tears again. "I can't fight Karma…" he exclaimed pitifully as he clutched the bottom of the creature's robe with one hand.

"You know, I would never promote violence," the being said using one of his limbs to wipe the tears from Nagisa's eyes. "But it's also not okay to let someone keep picking on you either. If you stand up for yourself, you might just find that the bully will leave you alone…"

"But I can't," he tried to explain once again. "What if I accidentally hurt him…"

Nagisa's own limbs grew from his neck and one of them wiped a tear from his cheek. He reached up running his hands over one of the blue strands nervously, looking a little like a small girl playing anxiously with a braid by her head. "What if my heartstrings accidentally hurt him…"

"Your heartstrings act on the will of your heart," the creatures said kneeling down to be closer to his height, though he was so tall he still towered over him even while crouched. "If your heart does not wish to hurt him, they will not..."

They weren't actually heartstrings, but that is what the creature had taught his kids to call them. Being children, they weren't in as much control of their limbs as the creature was, so they moved and acted out on their own (often in accordance with the children's mood, or as he just said, in accordance with their hearts), they didn't always have a say in what they did.

"I would never let any of you get seriously injured so don't worry about that," the creature explained, "but I would turn a blind eye if you wanted to give him a good smack the next time he picks on you. Not with our heartstrings though, but with your fist okay…"

"…"

"Come, on… I'm going to be going to pick up dinner soon, how about I let you pick tonight…"

"Um… Sushi!"

"Alright," he grinned. "Sushi it is."

In a flash he was gone, and smiling Nagisa headed back towards the house where he found Rinka standing under the tree house the creature had made for them to play in. Some of the boys had commandeered it today and were proceeding to tell her and a few of the other girls they couldn't come up because only boys were allowed.

One of her limbs slithered from her neck taking the form of a sling shot, and the other picked a stone up from the ground and pulled back flinging it against the side of the building where it left a rather noticeable dent in the wood there.

"Great shot Rinka!" Manami exclaimed happily.

"Uh… guys… " Nagisa said timidly, "You shouldn't do that… you… you could hurt someone…"

"They won't let us play in the tree house!" Kaede snapped.

"Yeah!" Toka frowned. "That tree house is for everyone!"

"That's not what I mean… you're not supposed to use your heartstrings to hurt. Remember, it's dangerous…"

"Terasaka used his to throw Rinka out of the tree house!" Yuzuki pouted, "So he did it first..."

"Yeah!" the other girls exclaimed.

"He is keeping the whole house to himself, and that was made for everyone..." Sumire yelled the last part up to Terasaka and his gang who were sticking their tongues out at them and laughing.

"What's going on?" Itona had just walked out of the house holding a cookie he had stole from the kitchen.

"We're not supposed to have sweets before dinner…" Nagisa tried to explain, but his tone was so quiet Itona couldn't hear him over the girl's explaining what the boys were up to.

Looking up with his large eyes he approached, Terasaka and his friends looked nervous as Itona got closer. His platinum limbs came into view and he jumped up using a few swipes to destroy the parts of the tree house that secured it firmly (and safely) to the tree. It began to tip and Terasaka and the others jumped out just in time before it fell. It broke the house a little, but the fall hadn't been that far so it was mostly still intact even after hitting the ground.

"Hey!" Terasaka snapped. "You could have hurt us!"

One of Itona's heart strings turned as though it were looking back at him, and Itona held up his hand and high fived it. As though this action were a personal insult Terasaka and his friends began to chase him down.

"Guys," Nagisa couldn't believe them… They were going to get time outs if they kept misbehaving, and using your limbs for fighting was the number one household rule they were told not to break…

Itona while slightly bigger than Nagisa, was not so by much. So in his haste his short legs tripped over a tree root into the dirt, the cookie he had taken rolled across the dirty ground, and he rolled over just as Teraska started hitting him with the cords from his own neck. Itona brought his arms up to shield his face.

"Stop it," Nagisa wrapped his arms around Terasaka in an attempt to pull him away, but for all the good it did he might as well have been standing still.

"Knock it off," Karma snapped. He had been siting not too far away watching the scene.

Both Karma and Terasaka were bullies, but the biggest difference was Terasaka picked on and teased everyone, while Karma teased everyone but only picked on Nagisa.

"Go away Karma!" Terasaka snapped, one of his limbs (getting annoyed with Nagisa) who was still holding on to him, smacked him on the cheek and he fell back on the ground holding it., "This isn't any of your business…"

"It is now," he answered walking towards him looking slightly crazy. Even though Terasaka was bigger than him he took a step back in obvious fear.

"Hey, Dad is gonna be mad at you if you go picking fights…" Terasaka explained nervously.

"Weren't you just picking a fight with Itona?" Karma asked. His heartstrings came out each one picking up a decent sized rock before they smashed together in the air before him, crushing them to dust.

"Uh…"

"All of you stop now," the creature spoke sternly, but without anger. He had returned, in his limbs he had bags upon bags of their dinner.

They all cheered rushing over to him leaving Nagisa, Terasaka, Karma and Itona the only ones still staring each other down.

"Yuma, Megu, the rest of you. Take these inside please, and set the tables."

They all started talking excitedly, and did as he asked. The creature headed over to them. "What is the first rule of this house?"

"Don't use your heartstrings for fighting," they all repeated.

"If I have to start being harsher with you kids when you break this rule, I will. It's for your own good…"

He picked Itona up out of the dirt and brushed it from his clothes.

"This is the last time I'm going to warn you about them," he explained to Karma and Terasaka. "Next time you use your heartstrings to hurt one another you will be in trouble. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the two of them said together.

He turned towards Terasaka only and added, "And I do not condone physical violence in this house, so you WILL get a time out…"

One of his limbs reached out pinching Terasaka's ear and he was taken inside. Smiling the other three followed.

His time out lasted ten minutes, so he had to wait and watch everyone else dig into their dinner before he could join. They were all sitting on the floor with individual kid sized tables before each of them in two rows that faced each other. The creature sat at the front facing them all.

When his time out was up, he got to eat with the rest of them.

"I don't like Sushi," Rio snapped pouting slightly as the wiggly piece of fish pinched between her child approved chopsticks unappetizingly.

"Now now, it was Nagisa's day to pick the meal…"

She instantly glared at him. "You know I don't like Sushi," she snapped.

"I'm sorry," Nagisa answered shyly.

"Next time you pick pizza!" she demanded.

"Okay…"

"Now Rio," the creature said in a slightly scolding tone. "It was Nagisa's day to pick and that means he is not obligated to pick something you enjoy…"

"What do you not like?" she asked glaring at him.

"Meatloaf," he answered softly without looking up from his plate.

"When it's my day I want meatloaf!" Rio exclaimed.

The creature sighed, "If that's what you want…"

She grinned at Nagisa who looked rather sad. Nagisa always tried really hard to keep the peace. Sometimes he would fail though...

When dinner was finished, the creature went off to clean up the dishes, and the children stayed in the large living room/bedroom (which had been the temple entrance back when it was still a temple). But the creature had put up sliding doors so the steps didn't lead right into the main living area. It didn't take him long to clean, and when he was done he sat with them helping and playing with whichever kids weren't preoccupied with the TV, which was very tiny, and there was only one so they had to sit really close to see it, and of course. Someone was always complaining that they didn't get to watch what they wanted to watch.

The show on currently was a school drama, and Manami loved it, but this brought up a good question for her.

"Daddy, can we go to school?" she asked.

"What?" the creature turned to her hoping he hadn't heard her right.

"I want to go to school, like they do on TV…"

"We have school," he told her. "Two pm to 6pm everyday I teach all of you… If you want to go to school you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

He wasn't dumb, he knew that wasn't what she was asking about.

"No, I want to go to an actual school. One with teachers, and books, and uniforms."

"I… I am a teacher!" he exclaimed nervously. "And we have books."

In a flash he had scooped a limb full of the books he had gathered for them off the bookshelf and set them in the middle of the room.

"And if you want uniforms."

In a flash he had made a small elementary school uniform that would fit each of them and put them in it. They all looked down at their new clothes smiling.

"But I want other students too…" she said frowning. "Not just everyone here. I wanna meet other kids, and go to a school building…"

"…" he sighed looking down at her. "Would going to school, make you happy?"

Her face lit up. "It would!" She exclaimed. "It would make me very happy!"

"… Alright then… It just so happens, the new school year begins in a week. I will let you go, on one condition…"

They were all looking at him excitedly now. They weren't allowed to leave their forest home, let alone talk to real people… Now, it seemed like their Dad was finally gonna let them go.

"You must not tell anyone about me, or your heartstrings. Are we clear?"

"Why?" Nagisa asked frowning slightly.

"Real people… they just… They don't like or understand people who are different…"

As young as Nagisa was, he could read their Father pretty well, and he was quite sure that wasn't the actual reason…

"But why?" Rio asked.

"When humans see that people are different than them, they often try to hurt them..." he explained softly. "And my only goal in life is to make you kids happy for whatever time we have left together…"

He turned slightly towards the crescent moon outside, he looked sad…

Shaking it off he turned back to them, "But if you kids really want to go, then you must be on your best behavior until the start of term."

"We will be!" they all cheered.

"Well then, it's a promise. So, you kids need to go to bed early then. Practice getting a good nights sleep for the night before school. One week of going to bed early and waking up early should help prepare you for the first day."

In a flash the creature took out a mat for each of them laying them out across the floor with a pillow and blanket for each. Once again, in two neat little rows.

"Alright children," he said. "Go to sleep and remember no talking, get under the covers and dream your happiest dreams…"

They did so, and he said goodnight to them all before turning off the light (which he had installed himself since the temple hadn't come with them).

It was still fairly well lit, the crescent moon hitting the sliding doors illuminated the room with its glow, and it was bright enough so that Nagisa could see Karma's pouting face staring at him clearly annoyed. Nagisa already knew why, but he didn't want to go over there after how mean Karma was toward him today.

"Why are you _way_ over there?" Karma asked glowering. Way over there was just a foot away, but to Karma that was too far. Sighing he scooted his pillow and sleeping mat right next to him, and he frowned avoiding his eyes, he was still mad at him…

"Wha," Karma's limbs had shot out wrapping around him. And dragged him over so he could rest his chin on Nagisa's head, and wrap his arms around his shoulders. His limbs kept Nagisa in place.

"Karmaaaa," Nagisa whined feeling annoyed and trying to pull away.

"Shhhh," Karma whispered, "I'm trying to sleep…"

"I am too, but I can't when we're—"

Karma pulled him even closer to quiet him, and he took Nagisa's hand in his and fell asleep with his cheek pressed against Nagisa's forehead. It took a bit longer for Nagisa to fall asleep as laying like this was uncomfortable. He couldn't even sneak away when he was sure Karma was asleep, because his heartstrings never slept and they held him close the whole night, but eventually he gave up trying to get away and fell asleep too feeling... slightly sick to his stomach.

Nagisa was Karma's teddy bear, and he just couldn't sleep without holding him close.

* * *

Normally, the creature never left his children's side at night. On this particular night he did. Zooming to a house miles and miles away he crept into the window and waited in the shadows.

It wasn't too long before the door opened and a tall and shirtless man walked in. He had black hair was and was quite fit. The moment he spotted the creature he reached into the drawer beside him pulling out his gun. He shot twice, hitting him both times, but the creature only laughed.

"You forgot, real bullets don't work on me…"

The man sighed, lowering his gun. "What do you want?"

"Is that anyway to treat an old target?" He asked frowning.

"Out with it…"

"I…" he touched the tips of his tentacles together as though acting shy. "I sort of… have a favor to ask…"

* * *

When Nagisa opened his eyes he could see Karma was still fast asleep. His limbs were relaxed, and he noticed that his own were wrapped around Karma's hand as though hugging it. He frowned and made them retract, then he tried to get up without waking him, but the heartstrings knew better and pulled him back close. He frowned deeper. Their Dad told them that their limbs acted on the will of their heart and that was why he sometimes called them heartstrings, so he supposed he should be happy that Karma's heart wanted him close.

Smiling at that idea he put his hand on top of Karma's. "It's okay," he whispered to Karma's heart strings. "I want to stay close to Karma too…"

A few of the other kids had woken up, and were starting to look for their Dad, who usually would sleep nearby. Rio found him having tea with a man in the other room and let out an excited scream before running back to tell everyone that a guest was here. Guests never came over. Karma woke up at that point, his limbs going back into him as he yawned.

Soon even the groggiest of them all was awake enough to go to the other room to see the guy.

"Well, introduce yourself," the creatures said before taking another sip of tea.

The man turned, "I am Karasuma Tadaomi," he explained. "I'm a friend of your… Dad's… Because of his unconventional appearance, I will be playing the role of your father for any school functions that calls for it."

And that was how they all ended up being registered at school with Karasuma's last name.

* * *

And that was how she ended up here…

"My hero is my Dad," she said and she turned the picture around to face them. "And... My Daddy is an Octopus!"

She sat outside the principal's office recalling the whole thing over and over in her head, and Karasuma showed up because her Father had been called, and her real Dad couldn't come…

He seemed mad he had to play this role the very first day the children were out in public…

He stopped beside her, "Well c'mon, let's get this over with."

They went inside together. "Thank you for coming Mr. Karasuma. We called you in today because your daughter was given the assignment of telling the class about her hero. She choose you, but… the problem is what she drew, and the things she's saying you did are… well…"

They slid the octopus drawing over to him and he frowned taking it in his hand.

"She says you flew her up into the atmosphere, and various other ridiculous stories… We understand wanting to promote imagination, but it's going a little too far when she makes her very first assignment out to be a joke. I suggest you make sure she takes schooling more seriously in the future…"

"I will have a talk with her, don't worry. My apologies for her disrupting class..."

"The other kids have gotten quite rowdy since she said all those lies, it might be better to take her home for the rest of the day. We'll try again tomorrow," she turned looking down at Manami, "And what will you come to school with tomorrow?"

"A positive and truthful attitude," she answered monotonously.

A few minutes later they were walking to the parking lot, and they got in Mr. Karasuma's car. She felt a tap on her shoulder and saw her father crouched down in the back seat.

Smiling she spun around, "Daddy will you come to school with me tomorrow? I want to show everyone I'm not lying."

"Manami," he said softly. "What did I say was the one condition you had to meet to be allowed to attend school?"

She frowned. "We couldn't tell anyone about you or our heartstrings," she plopped back down in her seat pouting.

Karasuma handed the creature the picture the Principal had given him, and he stared at it before tapping her on the shoulder again.

She looked back at him tearfully as though she had been yelled at rather than spoken to seriously.

"This is really good Manami, so good in fact I think it deserves a spot on the fridge…"

She giggled, "We better buy a new fridge then…"

She was referring to the fact that their current fridge was already covered almost head to toe in various drawings and works that their father had deemed fridge worthy.

"Nonsense, we'll start posting things on the wall if we have to."

Sighing Karasuma put the key in and started the car. How he had roped himself into this crazy family, he didn't know.


	2. The Key to the Door

Mostly everyone else came home with good stories about their first day. Everyone had something to show their Father the moment they walked in the door. So he moved around quickly so they could all excitedly talk about it at the same time.

Karma however, had come home with a frown.

"I'm never going back," was the first thing he said when he walked in. The creature being slightly blurry from moving quickly enough to give all the kids one on one time tilted his head in confusion.

"What happened Karma?" he asked concerned.

"It's boring, everything we're learning I already know," in his tone you could tell he wasn't bragging. He genuinely sounded disappointed that they learned nothing new today. "Me and Nagisa are gonna stay home."

Nagisa looked over at him when he heard his name. "But… I wanna go back," he explained softly.

"We're staying home," Karma glared over at him. "Dad can teach us whatever we need to know and we can play in the woods the rest of the time."

"Oh…" he looked sincerely unhappy. "Okay…"

"Now now," the creature said softly. "I will not make any of you go to school if you do not wish to, but I will also not keep you home if you wish to go. So Karma, you can stay home if that's what you really want, but Nagisa will be going back tomorrow."

"Wha…" Karma threw him one of those, _do what I tell you to looks_ , and Nagisa always listened…

"No, I'll stay home…"

"Nagisa, you don't always have to do everything Karma does," the creature explained. "You're going back tomorrow."

With that he stopped his speed and stood in the center of the room. "So… who is going back to school tomorrow?"

Everyone but Karma and Nagisa raised their hand. Though a few seconds later, timidly, Nagisa's hand joined the rest of them. All the while he threw an anxious look at Karma as though asking permission. With a sigh Karma raised his hand as well.

"Wonderful," he turned to Karasuma. "Thanks for going back to take them home. But I think I'm going to set up a bus stop at the main road and secretly add it to the bus route."

"Fine by me," Karasuma answered before putting on his coat. "I guess, you can just call me when you need me to play Dad again…"

"Alright," the creature said. "Everyone say thank you to Mr. Karasuma…"

"Thank you!" they all chimed in together.

Frowning he waved to acknowledge that he had heard them, and he left without so much as a look back.

That night the creature was very busy. He was helping them all with their homework and kanji practices and he took down an order for what they wanted for lunch the following day, and just as he was getting everyone ready for bed...

"Dad, will you tell us the story about Mama again?" Hinano asked blinking up from him under her covers.

"You've already heard it a thousand times," he explained as he pushed her covers up closer to her.

"So, I wanna hear it again!" she answered with a pout.

If it weren't for the fact that he loved telling this story as much as they loved hearing it, he probably wouldn't have told it to them, but…

"So there I was, swimming along with my many aquatic friends, when I saw a boat approach. I was very curious about the surface world so I climbed up the side to have a peek. There she was, your Mother. The most intelligent and beautiful marine biologist to ever live. She stood at the front of her ship one foot on the railing, her lab coat blowing out behind her," he was turning a bit pink now as he thought about her.

They had all crawled out from under their covers and gathered around him to hear him better. Nagisa stayed toward the back but was listening intently all the same, and Karma came up behind him. His arms wrapped around Nagisa's shoulders, and his chin rested on top of his head, but he too was interested.

They all had different likes and dislikes, but the one thing (aside from their heartstrings) that all of them shared, was the fact that they loved and missed their mother.

"She was gorgeous, and I would have given my last tentacle to know her. So I made a deal with a sea witch, and I gave up my voice so that I could temporarily become a human. She thought I was a mute sea wreckage survivor and she took me aboard her ship where she taught me everything she knew. After a while I knew she was the most incredible person I had ever met, and I was willing to give up my life in the sea for her. But the sea witch decided my time was up, and she climbed aboard your mother's vessel and told me I had to return. She turned me back into the creature you see before you, and your mother. Bless her heart, refused to leave my side. She asked the sea witch to join me in the sea and she gave up the ship she had spent her whole life saving up for in exchange."

"And so Mommy became an octopus!" Yukiko said smiling. She was was using one of their Father's legs as a pillow.

"That she did," he answered nodding. "And as you know, she and I had thousands of babies, but a small number of you were different…"

"Because we looked human instead of looking like an octopus," Taisei finished, and the creature nodded in his direction.

"I knew, the moment you were ready to hatch, that you would not be able to survive in the ocean, so after discussing it we decided that your Mother would stay in the ocean to care for our many many babies, and I would take you all to land where you could grow up safe and happy. You all had a human appearance (which you got from your Mother), but you got your limbs from me."

They came out as timidly as though checking to see if they had been called. Nagisa's sort of mimicked his his personality and they peeked out from around his neck as though asking... _Is it safe to come out_?

Karma's however had rushed from his neck and wrapped around Nagisa's torso as though hugging him. Toka's nudged her cheek like a puppy wanting attention and she patted it as if it were one. Kaede's had come out in two long strings and she wrapped her arms around them to hug them too. One by one everyone acknowledged them before they retreated back into their necks, and Itona's back into his head.

No one knew why by that's where Itona's tentacles came from. He was the only one of them who didn't match the other's location...

"Well, that was it. The end."

"You know…" Yuzuki said frowning. "Now that I heard it again, it really does…"

"What really does?" the creature asked.

"Part of yours and Mama's story sounds like the plot to the little mermaid…"

"Wha!" the creature suddenly started getting very nervous. "How do you know about that movie?"

"One of the icebreaker exercises we had to do in class today was list a few of our favorites. Favorite toy, favorite place, and one was favorite movie. I hadn't seen any so I asked the girl next to me what hers was, and she said the little mermaid. When I asked her about it, she told me, and I kept thinking it really sounded like—"

"Uh, okay that'll be all for today," the creature said and in a flash they all found themselves in their proper beds with their blankets tucked in around their mat. "You guys are catching the bus tomorrow, so you'll have to get up bright and early… Goodnight children."

He turned off the light and the moonlight poured in once again. They were all a little taken aback by his sudden departure.

"Did I make him mad?" Yuzuki asked frowning.

"Nah," Koki answered. "He's probably just mad that those movie people stole part of Mom and Dad's story…"

"I bet that's it," Rio answered before pulling her pillow closer to her.

They all laid still for awhile before Manami spoke up, "You know, I bet, if we go to the ocean. Mama will swim up to the bank and come see us."

"And maybe we can meet our other siblings!" Kaede suggested hopefully.

While everyone discussed how they might find their Mother in a big old ocean, Karma brought his mat next to Nagisa's and pulled him close. "Why would you rather go to school than stay home all day?" he asked frowning hugging him a little tighter than was necessary.

"I like school," he answered pitifully. He had enjoyed meeting the other students, and listening to his teacher, and he liked his cubby hole, and how the students raised their hands before speaking. At home everyone just talked when they wanted to.

"Well, if you're gonna make me go then you better give me your dessert for the rest of the year," Karma snapped. "It's only fair."

"I'm not making you go," Nagisa pointed out in a voice barely above a whisper. "Dad said you could stay home if you want—"

He squeezed him to shut him up again. "We are a pair!" he snapped. "We do things together or we don't do them at all!"

"Okay," he answered, one of Karma's hearstrings started petting his head as if he were a puppy.

"Good, then it's settled. We'll go to school, and in exchange I get your desserts."

"…okay…" he answered.

"Your hair is getting longer," Karma pointed out. His heartstrings lifted up a few strands as thought to stress the point.

"Sorry… I'll have Dad cut it…"

"No, leave it long," Karma answered. "I like it when it's long because when you move it in the light it looks like waves.

His limb would pick up a few strands and let it fall, and Karma would mimic the sounds of an ocean every time it did so.

Nagisa normally felt very anxious and worried when Karma would cling to him. He might have even admitted to being a tad aphenphosmphobic, if he had been old enough to know what that meant. But even though he wouldn't admit it, he liked it when Karma would pet his hair.

* * *

_Come their first break of the school year they begged Dad to take us to the ocean so they could meet their Mother. But he refused. So all the kids did what kids do best. They pouted, and threw tantrums. The louder kids were the loudest about the disappointment. But the kids who were quiet resigned to be overly silent and just moped about as though their worlds were ending._

_I mean, we were really spoiled. I don't think I ever heard of kids so spoiled. Anything they asked for they got._

_Since they had started school, the things they had ask for became more expensive. They'd ask for things like video games and electronics, and Karma who had seen some of his friends with cell phones immediately returned home one day asking for one for him and Nagisa, and of course, upon hearing his request everyone else asked for one too. So Dad had flown out that night and got them each one. Looking back on it, they were really too little to have smart phones, but... he still gave it to them. I guess, it must have been because... he knew..._

_But when it came to this trip, he had said no. They were not allowed to go to the ocean. Period, and after two days of their pouts and temper tantrums, it became obvious that nothing would change his mind…_

_So on the last day of their break Rio told everyone that she was going to go to the public library and see where exactly in the ocean their mother lived. Yeah, they were pretty naïve. I guess they honestly thought that it would be as easy as looking up an address..._

_However, they weren't supposed to leave home expect for school, so the other kids spent the day distracting Dad so he would be so busy he wouldn't know Rio was missing. The plan went great, and then she came home..._

She had on a tear stained face when she came into view from the woods and the tears were still coming. Her face was soaked, her nose was running and upon hearing her cries their Father had rushed out to see her, the other kids followed too. Clutched in her hand was a crinkled paper she had printed. It was an article.

Through her inconsolable wails (despite the creature's best efforts to keep her quiet) the rest of them heard her words. _A female octopus dies after giving birth_ …

That night no one talked, their sadness was beyond words. Karma clung to him. Nagisa had his tear-filled eyes pressed into Karma's shirt to dry them. Every time Nagisa let a small sob escape Karma clung tighter. Nagisa didn't think their had ever been a sadder day in their house…

When they woke up, Nagisa noticed that everyone else seemed to have fallen asleep either holding hands or hugging someone else. When their Father came in, he told them that three days had passed.

"Three days?" Rio sat up yawning. "No wonder I feel so groggy…"

"Why didn't you wake us up for school?" Manami asked rubbing her eye.

"Well, I thought you kids could use the rest. Don't worry, I already called your teachers and let them know of your absences. So no harm done."

"Dad…" Rio walked over to him. "Why didn't you tell us the truth about Mama…"

"I didn't want to see you all be sad," he explained patting her softly on the head. "But let's all cheer up. Your Mother wouldn't want any of you to be sad. Let's get ready for school."

Nagisa was sitting up, Karma's heart strings were loosely wrapped around him making him look a little bit like a kitten that had gotten wrapped up in some Christmas tinsel. He noticed large buckets of water around the room and he glanced up wondering if their roof was leaking.

Karma's stirring distracted him from that, he rolled over in his sleep breathing deeply. Trying to be stealthy he slowly pulled the heartstrings from him and got to his feet. But the moment the last one fell to the ground they lunged wrapping around his torso he pulled Nagisa back down to his so quickly that the fall back woke Karma with a jolt.

"Owww…" he glared. "What ya gotta trip on me for?"

"I didn't trip, you pushed me…" Nagisa explained frowning up at him.

"I just woke up when you fell on me," Karma snapped, and it was then that Nagisa noticed that his limbs had retracted so quickly he hadn't noticed them, so by the time Karma had woken up, they were already back in his neck.

Karma left yawning to get something to eat and Nagisa followed at a much slower pace but when he walked by the kitchen he noticed Karasuma was there. He had a bin full of towels that he was taking out to the dirty clothes hamper outside.

* * *

Before they knew it the house was alive with the excitement of a new school year to be starting tomorrow. They were entering their 4th year of elementary school, and having the house filled with a bunch of nine year olds meant even more tensions and fighting among the children.

All day, nearly every day it was: That's my blanket. Don't touch my book. I was reading that! It's my turn! Etc. etc… After the dinner before their first day got particularly loud, their father stood up silencing them all.

"You know, I'm starting to think that there isn't enough space here…"

They all stared up at him, wondering what he meant by that.

"When you kids come home tomorrow, you'll all have your own rooms," he explained.

The looked at him bewildered. They had been sleeping on mats in their living room for as long as they could remember. The idea they would have their own rooms was more than they could hope for. After all, that was 27 rooms that would have to be built…

"Can we have beds instead of mats?" Toka asked.

"I should be able to do that," their father answered.

Everyone began talking excitedly about having actual beds, but Nagisa was just happy with the idea of being in his own room, where he could lay stretched out and sleep comfortably for once in his life instead of being cuddled up next to Karma, which was fine once in a while, but not every night.

Karma was the only one who didn't appear excited about the news.

The creature made their lunches the following morning and gave a few of the kids who needed it haircuts. He asked Nagisa about cutting his hair, which had gotten rather long, but he said no. The first day went by like any other first day, they were too eager about finally having their own rooms that it overshadowed the first days' excitement.

When they got home the temple house they lived in had two extra floors. Their father put signs on the doors indicating which person they belonged to, so they excited scurried about the house looking for the door with their names on them.

Nagisa found his at the very end of the hall, the room just before his was Karma's. They were neighbors at least, so he should be happy about that.

He turned the knob and opened the door. It was a simple room, a bed, a desk with a small collection of school supplies, a bookshelf filled with the genre of books their Dad knew he enjoyed. Most people wouldn't have found it very awesome at all, but it was awesome. Because it was his and his alone.

He laid down on his bed which was very soft, and he knew he was going to be happy in here.

Karma looked in frowning.

"Isn't it great?" Nagisa asked him.

"It's a room," he stated simply plopping down on Nagisa's bed. "But I do like this bed. It's softer than mine. I know I'll just sleep here."

Nagisa's expression fell, "Well… we can switch beds if you want…"

"Nah, I wanna sleep in whichever bed your in," Karma stretched out staring up at the celing.

"Well, maybe… we could try sleeping apart," Nagisa said cautiously and upon seeing the look he was thrown he added quickly, "J… Just for a little while…"

"Oh I get it," Karma glared, "You don't want to sleep near me…"

"It's not that," Nagisa said immediately. _It was that_ …

"Oh I see…" he got up. "Well don't worry Nagisa, you don't have to worry about me wanting to be near you again…"

"Wait, Karma I didn't mean it like that…" Nagisa had jumped up and grabbed his arm to prevent his leaving. "It's just… I mean, sometimes it might be okay to—"

"I've seen your face when I hold you… I always thought that being close feels kind of nice, but whatever, if you don't agree…"

"I do, I just…"

Karma pulled out of his grasp, "Whatever, see you around…"

He disappeared around the corner and Nagisa felt a bit nauseous. He had really upset him this time…

Dinner was filled with everyone talking excitedly about their new rooms and how they were going to decorate them. Karma and Nagisa on the other hand were almost dead silent.

That night Nagisa did sleep alone in his bed, by himself, for the first time. He woke up feeling great, well rested and calm, he nearly walked right into Karma who was leaving his own room at the same time.

Karma looked exhausted like he hadn't slept a wink.

"Uh… good morning," Nagisa said shyly. He felt it would be a slap in the face to ask, how'd you sleep? So he said nothing else, and Karma didn't even answer.

And entire school day went by without Karma even meeting him for lunch, and dinner (while the others were noisy) was a quiet affair for Karma and Nagisa. Karma even got up before he finished eating to go to his room, and he gave their Dad the excuse of having a lot of homework when asked why he was leaving so soon.

After dinner the creature pulled him aside…

"Did you and Karma get in a fight?" he asked.

"That obvious huh?" Nagisa sighed looking down at his feet.

"Is their something I can do to help?"

"…" he looked up. "I don't think you can… He just… He wants us to share a bed, but I'm getting really tried with how clingy he is. I don't like it. It messes up my head, and I get really depressed, and sometimes I start feeling sick if he holds me too much. I just don't understand why he can't… He's not a kid anymore, he can sleep in his own bed, especially now that we have our own rooms."

Once he started complaining, he found it hard to stop, and then feeling slightly ashamed of expressing himself so much he added. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologize," his father said immediately. "I figured this would be harder on you two than anyone else…"

"You mean moving to new rooms?"

"Yes, and no…" he sighed. "Part of being half human as you kids all are, it comes with a price… To put it simply, all of your emotions can take physical tolls on you, but the good thing is you were all born in pairs."

"…in pairs?" Nagisa didn't think he quite understood.

"Your abilities to regulate your emotions resides within' a pair of you, separated you can become very stressed and anxious. Most humans when they're stressed they'll go relax, read a book or do some fun activity. You kids can't do that. Your abilities to stay calm resides in your pair. When you touch, it evens out your emotions among the two of you. Um… have you ever heard of grounding?"

"Uh… like when you do something bad and have to stand in the corner?" he asked.

"No, not exactly. When two objects that don't conduct electricity very well interact, it builds up a static charge. I'm sure you've gotten shocked when touching a doorknob before, that's what happened. If you had grounded yourself to the doorknob before touching it you would not have been shocked," he explained in the easiest way he could. "Now imagine life as building up a static in your head. If it builds up too much it can cause one to… go crazy (for lack of a better term)… Each of you were born with a pair, and if you come into contact with said pair it can ground you and prevent you from reaching that point where you would be shocked…"

"I… I think I get it. But why does that happen to us?"

"It's just the type of species we are. There are animals that can't regulate body temperatures so to be warm that have to be in the sun. To stay cool they have to be in the shade. Their outside world affects their temperature and they simply cannot adjust it internally. Humans can, if you're cold, your internal body will do certain actions to warm you up so you don't have to be the exact temperature of your surroundings all the time. It's kind of like that except, our species cannot regulate emotions internally, and your pair helps you to do that…"

"I think I get it, but… if it's supposed to even us out, why do I always feel worse after…"

"Well let's say, you are at an anxiety level of 20, and Karma is at an anxiety level of 70. Which anything above fifty starts to affect your functioning, so at that point Karma is very upset… You're not, being only at 20. So you hold hands to ground yourselves. What that does is it adds both your anxiety levels together, so 70 plus 20 is 90. Now you two have a combined stress level of 90. Which is very high, but it will then disperse that 90 among the pair of you, which then puts both of you at 45, which being below fifty makes it so you can both still function."

How had he never known this…

"You (most of the time) feel worse afterward because you were originally at 20 and had to go up to 45. Karma understands that doing that makes him feel calmer and happier, because he went from a level 70 down to 45."

"Holding me makes Karma feel calm…" he repeated. That would explain a lot.

"Karma among all of you has the least stable mind, it doesn't take much to set him off. He lives in an almost constant state of anxiousness, stress, and anger. I've never told any of the other kids this, so all he understands is that holding you makes it so he can think clearly, and be calm. However, he doesn't exactly know why," he put a limb on top of Nagisa's head. "I know it can be stressful on you, and you shouldn't have to be the one who keeps him together, but you're the only one who can. No one but the person's pair can do this for the other. Explain this to him, and maybe the two of you could come up with a plan together, perhaps you can try going every other night without grounding each other."

"Shouldn't we tell everyone?" he asked as the creature started walking away.

"There is no need, everyone else for the most part is happy, I do my absolute best to keep you all that way…" he explained.

And suddenly Nagisa understood why this creature spoiled them, and basically gave them whatever they asked for, and why he always focused on their happiness. He was trying to keep them from needing to be grounded, so they wouldn't go crazy? Was that really why?

Nagisa went upstairs and opened Karma's door the tiniest crack. He was indeed trying to do his homework but he looked stressed out as all hell. A fist clutched his hair in frustration, and he was tapping his pencil against the desk as if it were a nervous twitch.

"Damn it," he cursed suddenly erasing whatever he had just put.

Nagisa frowned at the site of him, this was his fault… he put this much stress on him…

Karma inhaled sharply when Nagisa put his arms around his shoulders, he slid one of his hands into Karma's shirt to ensure more of their skin would touch. "I'm sorry…"

Karma leaned back into him turning his forehead so he could press it lightly against Nagisa's neck. "Me too…" he answered dropping his pencil and it rolled off his desk onto the floor.

"Karma, what if we keep separate beds but remove the wall between your room and mine. And if you want to embrace, we can anytime you want. And I'll still have my own bed for if I want to take naps just me. This way, we'll still have our own spaces, and we'll still be together, anytime you need to be. Okay?"

"What made you come up with this idea?" Karma asked smiling.

Nagisa could feel himself getting worse, he even felt sick to his stomach, perhaps two days was just too much for Karma to go without evening himself out, Nagisa thought as he (despite how he felt) hugged him tighter.

"I just had a talk with someone that made me realize how much your feelings matter, I'm sorry I didn't see it before…"

"Don't worry about my feelings," Karma said with a laugh. "I just get lonely when we're not close, that's all."

You don't have to lie Karma, Nagisa thought as he got back to work on his assignment. I know now, and I'm sorry I never realized how much you suffer when left in your own head with no way out, but I'll be here for you now, and whenever you need me to. I'll open the door so you can escape...

...even if it means me getting trapped inside.

Nagisa didn't let go of him until his assignment was finished.

* * *

They went to their first day of the new year without much incident. Being nine meant they were older and smarter. The old fairy tale with the sea witch and even the whole story about their mother… They knew it was a lie. Their father could trick them with a fantasy story when they were small, but no nine year old was gonna believe that their mother had been turned into an octopus and thus died giving birth to them, and having access to internet on their phones and at school meant they knew what a real octopus looked like. Their Father really didn't resemble one, plus he had abilities regular creatures just didn't have.

And by this age, they all knew they weren't actually related. For one thing, they all looked different. Sure a few of them might be able to pass for siblings, but most of them couldn't. For another, no one woman could give birth to 27 children (who were all the same age). It was physically impossible. That is if they assumed they were all the same age. They had their doubts as some of them (mainly Terasaka) looked a few years older. Nothing about Dad's story made sense…

Including the fact that he was their Dad, which was one of the more terrifying truths they did not wish to learn.

So they had all seemed to reach a silent understanding not to question it. The truth was surely going to be far more terrible than the cute little fairy tale their Dad had come up with, and it was obvious, that they didn't think they could handle knowing what it was.


	3. Ski Trip Part 1

"It's our first family trip!" the creature announced brightly to them, and it was such an uncharacteristic action that none of them got excited right away. They had a long weekend this weekend so their Father wanted to play jokes on them clearly.

"What..." the creature asked looking slightly disappointed at their unaffected facades.

"You never let us go anywhere," Rio pointed out not looking up from the teen magazine she was thumbing through. Rio liked to pretend and dress like she was older than she was. "So where is this family trip? The backyard?"

His expression fell slightly... "No actually, I was thinking... Skiing in the Canadian Alps."

They all instantly looked his direction and two seconds later they had rushed him everyone asking about 200 questions a second. Many of the girls asking about going shopping at the stores and he shook his head.

"Just because we're leaving the country, it doesn't mean we're not going to be keeping a low profile still..." he explained. "We're gonna stay in Mr. Karasuma's cabin, ski for the whole day and return the next..."

"You have a cabin in Canada?" Ryoma asked questionably.

"Well, it belongs to a friend of mine, but he's letting me borrow it," Karasuma pointed out.

"I should have known something was up when Uncle Karasuma walked in with Dad," Sumire pointed out. It was kinda true. Karasuma never came over unless their was (pretend) Dad business to do...

"Alright..." the creature said cheering. "I've already packed your suitcases... The plane leaves in two hours..."

"PLANE!?" they gasped together...

"Dad can't you fly us there..." Toka asked frowning slightly.

"Sorry, I'd have to move a lot slower if I carried all of you, and moving a lot slower will increase my likelihood of being seen," he explained. "But don't worry, I will meet you there... Think you can handle them Mr. Karasuma."

He just shrugged in response. Nagisa had gone over to the bookshelf where he pulled out an atlas, spotting his strange behavior Masayoshi walked over to him. He was looking at just how far away Japan was from Canada. He used a ruler and a scale and determined it was about 5000 miles...

"Wow, that's so far! And we'll get to look down and see the ocean! How cool!"

"Maybe we'll see a whale!" Taiga pointed out cheerfully.

"Don't be silly," Rio explained holding up her finger to express her point. "The plane isn't gonna fly close enough to the ocean to see any fish."

They were shuffled along to get ready, even though the creature had packed their bags, he told them to search their rooms for anything else they might need. Thus everyone hurried along except for Nagisa, who hadn't moved. He was staring at the map, his eyes round as marbles, his hands clenched into fists, and he was shaking slightly...

"What's wrong Nagisa?" the creature asked putting a tentacle on his head in concern.

"Can the pilot fly without going over the water?" he asked frowning up at him.

"Uh... From Japan to Canada... Not really..."

His frown deepened and he turned back to the map, "I don't wanna go..."

"Nagisa..." the creature sat down beside him looking a bit like a lion sitting beside a mouse due to their sizes.

"It's gonna crash in the water... I'll drown..."

"Nagisa, you will be fine... Planes are very safe..."

But he quickly understood that Nagisa didn't fear the plane crashing, he was afraid of drowning. He had had an irrational fear of water since as far back as the creature could remember.

He had been trying to hide how full his eyes had become. But a few tears couldn't remain and the creature saw them fall onto the book creating two grey circles on the Atlas before him.

"Hey now," he said wrapping two limbs around him he held him close. "Do you really think your Dad would let anything happen to his precious children?"

"No... but..."

"If it makes you feel better I will ride along the top of the plane in invisibility mode, if anything happens I will carry it to a safe place to land..."

"You promise?" he asked hopefully.

"I promise, now go get ready..."

Normally parents would tell children lies about things they could and couldn't do. Like a when a mother tells her child she'll fight off any monsters that pop out from under their beds. Assuming for a second that the monsters were real, their was next to no chance that she would be able to fight off a monstrous creature. But when it came to their father, if he promised he would land the plane safely if it were to malfunction. He would do it. Their Dad could do anything!

He got up hurrying out of the room, but still with much less enthusiasm then the rest of the children.

"Ugh, this going to be a pain..." Karasuma sighed. He was not looking forward to wrangling 27 children onto a aircraft. "Couldn't you have done something fun with them here?"

"Of course I could have. But I need to test them."

"Test?" Karasuma eyed him.

"The children go to school, and they come straight home. Aside from Rio's little venture to the library, they have been no where else. Though it isn't much of a life if all you see is school and your own yard. It is important for the children to experience other things, and other places. I'm just hoping they're old enough now that they won't let their emotions or their limbs run away from them. So we have to be cautious, if anyone finds out about their limbs it could get out of hand very quickly."

"I know..."

"They don't actually have much control over their limbs..." the creature explained even though it was unprompted, and Karasuma stared at him. He didn't quite understand what he meant...

"What does that mean?"

"My limbs move about and do only what I wish them to. The children while they can control them sometimes I've notices many instances when their limbs move on their own. Sometimes without their even realizing it. I have caught them more than once talking to their limbs as if they weren't a part of them. I don't know if it's temporary or not. I'm hoping they grow out of it. They could end up hurting someone or themselves," the creature explained with a sigh. "Not to mention the other reason..."

"Yeah you already explained that..." Karasuma interrupted, he didn't want to hear _that_ again...

Soon, they were all ready and loaded up onto a bus Karasuma had rented. The ride was noisy. The kids (all being excited for the trip) were rather rambunctious. Some of them were climbing over seats and others were hiding under them. More than once Itona had climbed up onto the back of one of the seats to try and open the fire escape hatch at the top of the bus claiming he wanted to ride up top.

At one point Karasuma pulled the bus over and told them if they behaved like this for the rest of the ride and on the plane, then they would turn right around and go home. They quieted down after that choosing instead to talk with the people they were sitting the closest to.

The airport was a mess, the kids had never seen so many adults in one area. Most of them were dressed very professionally, as if they had important places to be. Ryunosuke overheard a few women say as they walked by, "Look that class is on a field trip? Where do you think they're headed that they would need to take a plane?"

Karasuma made them all hold hands so they wouldn't get lost on the way to their gate. When it was time to board Karasuma shuffled through their tickets and called each of their names one at a time before handing the paper over to the ticket taker. Then, all too soon Nagisa found himself in a window seat with Karma beside him looking entirely too calm for the peril that was going to face them. He could feel himself start shaking slightly, and (once again) before he knew it, the flight attendant gave them some safety procedures and then the captain was telling them it was time to take off.

Nagisa had reached out to take Karma's hand twice since they had gotten on the plane, but both times he thought better of it...

He knew taking Karma's hand would even out their anxiety, but he was pretty sure that for the first time, he was more stressed out than Karma. So taking his hand meant increasing the stress on him, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. That was until the plane actually began to move and he thoroughly began to freak out.

Karma was talking with Hiroto from across the aisle so he wasn't paying attention when Nagisa reached for his hand again stopping mere inches away.

"K... Karma..." he said nervously. He didn't want to do it without at least asking for Karma's permission first... "Can I... Can I hold your hand?"

He was blushing slightly from the embarrassment the question caused him, and Karma who had turned at his name, raised an eyebrow, and suddenly he realized, "Aw... are you scared?"

Nagisa's frown deepened.

"Well... nope," he answered sneering. "You're nine now, and their is no reason for you to be such a baby about water..."

"Uh..." he sat back in his seat looking away slightly, his hand retreating from being outreached to tucked up close to his chest. Then he grabbed it with his other hand. He knew it wasn't really possible for him to ground himself, but he thought it couldn't hurt to try... Maybe if he pretended it was Karma holding his hand, then he might be able to calm down. He let his chin rest on his cupped hands and he closed his eyes, knowing within' a few seconds that no amount of pretending made him think it was Karma's hand he was holding. He felt his eyes grow hot and tears build up behind his lashes...

The plane had lined up on the run way and was starting to pick up speed when he felt a hand on his neck, and he was pulled down until his head pressing lightly into Karma's shoulder, and Karma stroked his hair while continuing his conversation with Hiroto. The plane had already taken off but he hardly noticed. He never realized that grounding himself to Karma could make him feel so calm, at least initially. The draining feeling of anxiety leaving him was hard to describe. If this was what Karma normally felt, he understood why he would cling to him all the time.

Karma cut his and Hiroto's conversation short a few minutes. He suddenly wasn't feeling well and he wasn't quite sure why. He was starting to feel worried, anxious, slightly sick to his stomach. Worries began plaguing his mind, not of anything specific, but the more worried he felt the more he kept wondering if this plane was going to crash, if it was going to fill with water. Was he going to drown if that happened. He hadn't had any sort of thoughts like this before the plane had taken off. But he immediately scolded himself for being scared of planes, it was a silly fear and he felt foolish for having it. Besides that, he didn't want to lose face in front of Nagisa. He couldn't let him know he was scared too. It was just odd, because this fear felt like it came from literally no where...

Ten minutes into the flight and Nagisa had propped his travel pillow up against Karma's leg, and Karma continued to run his fingers through the other's hair. Nagisa could tell they had evened out now. Karma looked anxious and worried. Nagisa regretted needing to be close to him instantly. Karma would probably have had a perfectly fine plane ride if he hadn't have asked to hold him...

They departed with relative ease and as soon as they were outside the kids gawked at the beautiful snow. While they had snow in Japan, the place they lived didn't often see much. An inch or two, if that. But their were places where the snow was above their heads and it was all so beautiful. It quickly became apparent that they had not dressed for the occasion. All their warm clothes were in their suitcases which were being sent separately. As if he had read their minds the next second they blinked and found themselves in warm clothes complete with scarfs and mittens. Their father appeared beside Karasuma looking... strange.

"Daddy what's wrong with you?" Rio asked blinking up at him.

"I'm just your regular everyday human..." he explained. He looked like he was wearing a bad Halloween costume that only barely resembled a human.

"You look ridiculous," Karasuma snapped.

"Aw c'mon. I worked really hard on this!" he sighed as two minivans pulled up.

"Alright, here are our rides. Everyone in."

"Uncle Kara sounds grumpy," Toka snickered.

"Don't call me that!" he snapped as he headed to the nearest one.

The creature walked over to Nagisa putting a limb on his head? "See," he said softly. "Safe and sound. I wouldn't let you down."

Nagisa grinned. He had been silly to worry. Clearly, their father could protect them from anything!

* * *

It was about a hours drive to get to a large cabin out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by tons of snow. When they entered Karasuma told them that their rooms had been labeled beforehand and it was four to a room. Karma wasn't too happy about being stuck with Itona and Terasaka. Since Karasuma had a room just for him and since their Dad was going to be hanging out with Manami, they were getting the biggest room in the building.

"We ran out of rooms unfortunately, so you four will have to share my colleagues bedroom." He explained as he led them up the stairs to it. "Try not to make it a mess, the only condition he had for letting us use his cabin was that no one go in his room."

He opened his door to the sound of a rather lustful sigh.

"Oh, baby, I never thought you would get home!"

They froze. A half naked and rather attractive blonde woman with huge boobs was sprawled on the bed. She turned to face them when the door opened and suddenly looked just as shocked as them.

"Skiing, biggest room in the place, and a hot naked woman," Karma said grinning. "Wow, you're the best Uncle ever!"


	4. Ski Trip Part 2

"What!" The woman gasped upon realizing kids were there. She quickly wrapped the blanket around her like a toga and was on her feet in seconds. "HEY! I don't know what the guys at the agency told you, but I don't do children! And I don't do anything with children in the room! So if you want this to happen, your kids are going to have to wait downstairs!"

"Um... I think their has been a mistake..."

"I'll say! Send those little boys downstairs so we can have a good time," she added a wink at the end of her sentence.

"No, no..." Karasuma sighed. "Look, this is my friend's cabin. We're borrowing it from him. That's all."

"Wait... What is your name?" she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"Karasuma."

"Ka...ra...su...ma..." her face became more panicked with each syllable. "But you're not who I'm supposed to be meeting!"

"I know that," he answered, with a _no shit_ sounding tone.

She looked at the children starring up at her and suddenly her face got bright red and she rushed into the attached bathroom slamming the door in embarrassment.

"Uh, why don't you guys wait downstairs..." Karasuma ordered and lightly pushed them towards the direction of the door as he made his was towards the bathroom.

"Let me know if she needs help getting dressed," Karma teased but at the harsh look he was given they all hurried out of the room.

"Damn she was hot!" Terasuka sighed as they started heading back down.

"Did you think she was hot?" Karma asked Nagisa curiously and Nagisa frowned.

"I don't know... I guess so..."

Karma didn't look happy upon hearing that and hurried forward a few extra steps to leave him behind.

"Why aren't you guys in your room?" Their Father upon seeing them come into few had had scaled up the staircase to meet them.

"Their was a naked woman in our room," Itona explained bluntly.

"Wha..." their Father had taken off his human costume. So they could see his face light up with a red hue. "Why would their be a naked woman in your room?"

"I don't know, but Uncle Kara wouldn't share. He told us to get out," Karma explained grinning.

"He did what?"

Their father suddenly disappeared and they all felt a gust of wind as he flew past them.

"Well, while their off doing that..." Karma hurried a few steps down the stairs before turning back to the three of them. "Let's go raid the kitchen."

"Heck yeah!" Terasaka hurried after him and the two started racing to see who could get there first.

"Do you ever get the feeling those two are really stupid?" Itona asked, his hands in his pockets as the two of them started down stairs.

"Karma's not stupid," Nagisa jumped to his defense. He didn't like people insulting Karma.

"Huh, maybe it's just my other half then..."

* * *

Karasuma knocked softly on the door. "Miss..." he called softly. "Listen, I don't want to be rude. But... their are lot of kids here and well. It might be best if you went home as quickly as possible."

"I can't go home," she snapped, her voice was slightly muffled from talking through the door. "I don't have a flight out for a few days..."

"I see..."

"Psssst!"

"Well, how about you put some clothes on and..."

"PSSSST!"

He turned towards the bedroom door where the creature was looking in trying to get his attention.

"Uh, one second. I'll be back." He walked over to the door stepping out into the hall he closed it behind him. "What?"

"Who is that woman? She can't be here? She can't see me..."

"I know that, I was trying to get her to leave. But she doesn't have a way of going home for a few days."

"Well, we need to think of something..." the creature looked slightly saddened.

"How about she just stays here with us and goes home when we do..."

"But she can't see me..." he frowned. "And if I have to stay hidden then our first family vacation will be ruined because I won't be able to do any of the fun activities I had planned..."

"Ugh..." Karasuma frowned. "Alright how about this... I'll keep her distracted while you go off and do your little events with the kids. But just do them in small groups where we aren't."

"It's not just me Karasuma, if the kids reveal their heartstrings. No human is going to understand what those are and she'll tell others..."

"Just talk to them then, and tell them they can't use them while we're here..." he demanded. "I'm going back in. I'll try to convince her to come back downstairs in about ten minutes. Go talk to them in the meantime."

With that he walked back in to find the woman in her bra and underwear. It seemed she had left the bathroom to get over to her suitcase in order to change. "Whaaa! What are you doing get out!"

Karasuma closed the door quickly. "Okay then I'll wait out here for her..."

"Alright, I'll go explain the situation to the other children..." With that he zoomed down the hall, the pictures handing on the wall moved from the force of it.

* * *

"What are you four doing?"

Their Dad had appeared at the kitchen entrance. Karma and Terasaka had gotten into the cookies, Itona's pockets were over flowing with M&M's and while Nagisa hadn't wanted any part of this heist, Karma was making him hold out his shirt so they could load it up with muffins.

"What have I told you? No treats before dinner!"

He was doing his rushing speed thing so he could talk to them all at once. Nagisa could tell because he was disappearing for seconds at a time.

"Sorry," Nagisa frowned dropping his shirt and letting the muffins fall. His Father was too quick however and had caught them before they hit the ground. He put them back up on the counter.

"Alright, it seems we're going to be having a guest on our little trip. You all need to be on your best behavior and keep your heart strings hidden. I will also have to hide from her so you will need to not mention me..."

"Why do you have to hide?" Terasaka asked.

"Well, she won't really understand..."

A small tug on his robe made him look down. Itona was staring up at him, "Just wear your human costume..."

"Well I could, but that's best for short dealings, and we'll be around her for more than just a few hours. She would catch on eventually. For now..."

He suddenly became solid again which told them that he was not longer talking to the other kids as well. "You four can set the table and wash all the dishes afterwards. That'll be you punishment for eating desert before dinner."

He handed them he a stack of dishes and had them march out to the long dining room table just as the other kids came downstairs. They immediately were bombarded with question about the new woman. The girls especially were really interested, at first Nagisa didn't understand why, but after a couple questions he realized it was because their Dad was a boy, and Uncle Kara was a boy too. Their only two parental figures were both male so they didn't really have an adult girl to look up to or ask questions about.

"Is she pretty?"

"Is her hair long?"

"What ind of clothes does she wear?"

"Calm down all of you," Karasuma was heading downstairs and right behind him was the woman wearing a short skirt and a sweater. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail atop her head. She looked a tad nervous.

All the girls ran over to her.

"What's your name?"

"Will you sit next to me at dinner?"

"What's your favorite food?"

"Well, the girls really like her?" Terasaka frowned staring after them.

"Alright stop, everyone just sit down and eat!" Karasuma had to yell to be heard over the chatter. When they calmed down he spoke more quietly. "This is Miss. Irina. She will be joining us on our trip."

He pulled out a seat for her to sit down in at the long dining room table. "Alright everyone gather around."

They all rushed to take seats. A few of the girls fought over who got to sit next to Miss. Irina. Manami ended up winning after showing a bit of aggression that was quite uncharacteristic for her. Nagisa was at the entire opposite end with Karma and he noticed the kitchen door open a crack so their father peeked around the edge looking rather sad that he couldn't join them.

"So, these are all your children?" Irina asked Karasuma frowning slightly. "Man, your child support payments must be a real bitch..."

"No, it's not like that. I adopted them all..."

"Why so many?"

"Uh..." he frowned. "You know I've just met you and I don't really feel comfortable discussing this with someone I barely know..."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry," she said frowning.

Manami tugged on her sleeve and Irina turned to her. "Uh, yes?"

"Do you have a boyfriend Miss. Irina?"

"Uh, right now... No. Not really..." she was blushing slightly at that.

All the girls started whispering at this news and then Rio's eyes lit up. Nagisa knew that look, it was similar to the looks she would get when planning to do something mischievous.

She whispered to the kid next to her who whispered to the kid next to him and so on and so forth until the news got around to Nagisa's end of the table.

"Rio wants us to try and get Miss. Irina and Karasuma together," Toka seemed on board.

"But they just met," Nagisa frowned looking down at the end of the table.

"Ugh who cares, pass it on already, this is our chance to have a Mom!"

Frowning he carried on the message to Karma who passed it on to Itona so on and so forth until it got all round the table and everyone had a new secret mission. Hook Uncle Kara up with the Hooker!

* * *

That night Karma, Nagisa, Itona, and Terasaka were all told to camp out in the living room since Miss Irina was going to sleep in the room they were supposed to share. They didn't mind, Itona and Terasaka won rock paper scissors so they got to sleep on the two couches and Nagisa and Karma had to drag one in from another room. Karma only brought one in because as Karma said, their was enough space for both of them.

Their wasn't. But Karma took that excuse to wrap his arms around Nagisa and hold him close all night.

Come morning, Karma's heart strings were all wrapped around him again. Not wanting to wake him he laid uncomfortably still waiting for him to wake up. He glanced over at Itona and Terasaka who were both seemingly comfortable apart but he noticed Terasaka's and Itona's heart string had found their way to one another had had wrapped around each other as if holding hands.

"Wha! Wake up hurry, put those away!" their Dad had appeared from out of no where and the next thing they knew they were all on their feet and he had jumped up to the roof just in time to hide himself in the rafters above.

Irina was at the top of the stairs a couple of seconds later. "Oh, hello boys," she said cheerfully stretching so much that the shirt she was wearing as pajamas went up a couple inches and flashed the bottom of her butt to them as she headed towards the kitchen.

"How about I make some breakfast this morning, how many of you are there again?"

They all just stared at her clearly more than a little surprised that a stranger would walk around the vacation lodge of people she barely knew in a shirt and revealing undies. "Oh never mind, I'll just keep cooking until everyone has a plate."

True to her word she made eggs and bacon until everyone was full.

"Uncle Kara can we go skiing now?" Manami asked.

"Uh, yeah I guess..."

They all immediately started cheering and all the kids began rushing around to put on their warm clothes and grab their ski's and toboggans and other snow toys. Their Dad inspected their outfits in another room away from Irina to be sure what they had picked out was warm enough and he gave them one last warning not to let their heartstrings out.

Then they were outside. Everyone had different reactions to it. While they all thought it was pretty to look at from the window. It was very different being out in it.

Nagisa quickly realized that this was just a bunch of frozen water and after seeing Terasaka wipe out after hitting a small snow drift he refused to even put the skis on. Tomohito, Rinka, Taisei, Toka, Yuzuki, Kirara and a few others had begun a huge snowball fight.

Karma was snowboarding, and he seemed to really enjoy it. Nagisa liked to watch him enjoy things so he sat down at the top of the hill and watched him go down again and again and again.

Irina was helping Masayoshi and Kaede make snow men, except Masayoshi made himself a snow woman with huge boobs that suspiciously resembled Irinas.

Itona was exploring woods nearby and when Nagisa saw him disappear from view he got to his feet to follow him.

"Itona wait up," Nagisa called after him. He stopped to let Nagisa catch up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm following bear tracks," he explained pointing to the snow where what looked like very large dog prints were heading off deep into the Forrest.

"Are you sure it's a bear?" Nagisa asked nervously.

"I dun know, but let's find out."

"No, let's not find out," Nagisa grabbed his sleeve. "Let's head back, I don't want to lose sight of the cabin."

"Relax, we'll just follow the same tracks back..."

"I... I don't..." He frowned, wondering why he was such a scaredy cat.

"Okay, go ahead and go back, but I'm going this way," he pulled his sleeve from Nagisa's grasp and kept right on walking.

Nagisa made one glance back and then followed Itona. He was scared to go, but he was more scared to leave Itona alone. So they headed after the bear. It felt like they were walking for an unusually long time when the heard a loud noise. It scared Nagisa so he didn't realize he was standing on the edge of a small gully and he slip right into a very shallow river soaking his clothes.

* * *

Karma was having another go down the hill when at the exact moment Nagisa had fallen into the river he fell and started rolling down the hill. Their Father who was sitting on the roof of the building enjoying some hot chocolate looked up upon hearing Karma yell out. Normally he would have rushed instantly to his side, but with Irina there he couldn't. Luckily Karasuma had noticed and he hurried down the hill after him.

"Are you alright?"

Karma was breathing hard clutching his chest. He felt weird... like something was wrong. Immediately he looked up glancing back up the hill at his siblings. "Where is Nagisa?" he implored immediately.

* * *

Nagisa immediately jumped up because -water-. He stumbled to the snow bank coming face to face with a bear.

He jumped back, he nearly hadn't noticed it because it was covered almost completely in snow.

"He's hurt..." Itona had slid more gracefully down the gully side. The bears leg was in a hunting trap. "I'll help it..."

"No," Nagisa said through chattering teeth. He was freezing now. "He might hurt you, let's get Dad. He'll help the bear..."

Itona had already walked over to it and removed his hat so the three heartstrings would come out. While they only had the strength of children, their heartstrings were much stronger. He pried open the trap and pulled it off his leg with his own hands. Then he let the trap close.

The bear was pretty big, and even though it had pierced his leg it hadn't gone in too deep because this particular trap was meant for a small creature. It was also thanks to all the fat the bear had on him. But it seemed he had instinctively realized that trying to pull his leg out would do more harm than good, so he had instead just laid still.

"Aren't you supposed to be hibernating," Itona asked it ask though it were going to answer him. "Go on and go home."

The bear cocked it's head staring at him before he limped away. Itona turned back to Nagisa. "C'mon, let's go back. You're going to freeze to death."

He started walking over to him when...

SNAP! Itona had stepped right on another trap. He gasped falling down.

* * *

"I'm sure Nagisa is fine," Karasuma said helping Karma to his feet. Their Dad was quickly realizing that Karma didn't fall because he had made a mistake, and all it too was one glance from Karma (even at this distance) for him to understand. He scanned the hill, when he didn't spot Nagisa he went back inside and searched the whole house in seconds. He hadn't gone back in either...

He went out onto the balcony in time to see Terasaka had collapsed to his knees clutching his chest as well. When he looked up he called out Itona's name frantically looking for him.

He scanned around, and didn't see Itona either...

This was serious now, their was no time to be hiding from random strangers. Miss. Irina discovering him was now the least of his worries, because his children were in danger. He appeared instantly to Karasuma's side.

Miss. Irina gasped falling backwards. "What the hell is that!" she gasped.

But Karasuma and the creature ignored her. Karma had already been led back up the hill and he kept looking around frantically, he was shaking.

"Karma what are you feeling?" he placed to limbs on Karma's shoulders in an effort to get his full attention.

"My whole body feels numb..." he said.

The creature turned to Terasaka. "And what do you feel?"

This seemed such an strange question to ask, but it was odd that Karma mentioned feeling numb because he was as well, only...

"My leg feel numb," he answered.

What did that mean... Did this have something to do with what Karma was feeling?

The creature turned to Karasuma. "Get the children inside, I'll go find them."

"I want to go too!" Karma and Terasaka demanded almost immediately.

"Believe me I know how you're feeling," he said placing a consoling limb on each of their heads. "But if we all go searching then I'll just have four children to worry about instead of two. Please stay here."

With that he zoomed out of view sending up a puff of snow around them so for a second it almost looked as though they had been hit with a small blizzard.

"What the hell is going on!" Miss. Irina barked looking from one person to another.

"It's okay," Manami using her gloved hands to wipe the snow off her clothes and she used one of her limbs to shake the snow of Miss. Irina's hat.

"Wha! Their are snakes coming out of your neck!" she gasped and Karasuma face palmed. The one thing they were told not to do.

"Just... Everyone inside already!" Karasuma demanded and they also slowly made their way inside.

* * *

"Itona!" Nagisa hurried to his side. Itona was gritting his teeth to prevent from screaming. He opened one eye glancing around.

"Na...gisa... Be careful... Their are traps all over... I didn't see them before."

Nagisa turned looking around. Through the snow you could see outlines of traps that resided below the freshly fallen snow. It was so difficult to see, if Itona hadn't of said something he wouldn't have even noticed.

"Itona, what should I do..." Nagisa asked. "I'll try and open it like you did.."

"No... Just head back. I won't be able to walk back anyway. You're... you're soaked, you have to get some... somewhere warm..."

"Well I'll get you out first so..."

"It might just bleed worse when you do... Just go and get Dad..."

"But..." Nagisa frowned. He had been scared to go in there in the first place. Heading back all on his own...

"Theirs no time go!" Itona pleaded. His voice had sounded weaker that last time and he was shaking almost as bad as Nagisa was.

"Okay, I'll be back, so... s... so hold on."

He hurried up the gully edge pulling himself up to where they were before and made a terrifying discovery. The snow had been falling so thick that he couldn't see their foot prints anymore. How was he going to know how to get back. He decided not to mention it though. He didn't want to scare Itona. He had to make it back.

His initial adrenaline rush had helped him not notice too much how cold he was, but now that he was heading back, that was starting to wear off, and he was beginning to feel every bit of stabbing cold.

 _Just walk in a straight line_ , he told himself. _Stay in a straight line and eventually you'll get back to the cabin_.

Though he was only about five minutes into his journey when he heard a very recognizable sound. His Father was speeding towards him, and he stopped quickly before him sending a gust of snow to cover him. Which didn't help his freezing any. But within seconds he had wiped off the snow covering him. "Nagisa you're freezing!"

"I f...fell... in the wa... water."

"C'mon, let's get you home. Where is Itona."

"Itona got h...hurt... He stepped in a t... trap..."

He picked Nagisa up holding him close. "Point me in his direction."

Nagisa did and they sped off so fast Nagisa couldn't keep his eyes open. This also was not good for his being cold, but Itona was more important right now.

They were there in seconds. Itona was lying in the cold shivering and clenching his fist to keep from crying out.

"It's alright, your Dad's here..." the creature sat Nagisa down at a safe distance away and pried the trap off his leg. It was covered in blood. And Itona looked as though it were costing him everything not to cry. "It's alright, it's alright... Itona, if you want to cry you go right ahead, you're being so strong. I'm so proud of you."

As though that were all the permission he needed he clutched the robes he was wearing letting out small sobs. He wrapped one entire limb gently around Itona's injured leg and then scooped Nagisa back up in another.

Then he took off. They were back to the cabin in about ten seconds. He rushed in to the terrified faces of the other children. Who had set up the two sofas with lots of pillows and blankets.

"Nagisa needs to be warmed up immediately," the creature said setting him on the sofa. "Get him some dry clothes and someone start a fire."

Yukiko hurried over to Nagisa's luggage to get him a warm outfit and Miss. Irina rushed to start a fire. He laid Itona softly on the other sofa and with difficulty removed the bloody boot. Terasaka had rushed forward the moment Itona was placed on the sofa, and his face paled when the bloody boot hit the floor.

Karma helped to change Nagisa's clothes since he was having a hard time doing so himself. Once he was in something warm Karma wrapped him up like a cocoon in two or three blankets and then sat beside him holding his hands while they looked over at Itona. Their father's back was to them so they couldn't see what he was doing. The other children had sat around the edge of the room. Seemingly to ensure they were in no one's way. Karasuma and Miss. Irina ran around getting whatever their Father requested. Nagisa remembered seeing the faint glow of a light but he wasn't in a position to really tell what their Dad was doing.

After a while, their father stood up letting out a sigh. The bowl of water that Miss. Irina had brought was now filled with bloody rags.

He turned around to look at the children and motioned for those far away to come closer, and they did so. "Tonight was a good lesson for all of us. It is not good to wander off to far alone. From now on, wherever we go you need to stay close, and preferably keep your cell phones on you at all times in case their is ever trouble. Today could have ended in tragedy. So please, all of you be more careful."

"We will," they all answered.

Manami glanced down at Itona's face, he was out cold. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, he just passed out from the pain," he said. "He should be alright, and in a week or so, he leg should be back to normal."

The creature turned. "How are you feeling Nagisa?"

"I'm okay," he answered. Compared to Itona he didn't think he had anything to complain about. He reached out a limb feeling Nagisa's forehead.

"Oh, I think I feel a fever starting. I want you to stay in bed until you're better, understand?"

"Yes."

"I'll take care of him!" Karma said immediately.

"Good." With that he turned to Miss. Irina who was standing off to the side.

"I want to thank you for your help Miss. Irina," he said bowing slightly out of respect. "I know seeing me must have come as quite a shock to you, and yes. I'm actually their parent. Mr. Karasuma stands in for me when needed because, well. As I'm sure you can see. Meeting me is a bit alarming to most people."

"I can imagine," she answered nervously.

"So, if you wouldn't mind Miss. Irina. I'd like to ask that you keep my familiy's secret."

Her lips split into a smile and she answered in a sweet overly girlish voice, "Oh don't you worry. I won't tell a soul."


	5. Ski Trip part 3

Nagisa knew he was nauseous even before he opened his eyes and he groaned knowing that if he opened his eyes, any light or movement probably wouldn't help him. Almost as if Karma had read his mind he felt a pillow lightly placed on the side of his head to block out any light.

"Morning," Karma whispered softly and Nagisa opened one eye looking up into Karma's concerned looking expression. Both of laid with their head covered up by the pillow. Though he could hear other people moving around the room he was happy to be in this tiny space, just him and Karma. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay…" he lied.

Karma scooted closer putting his forehead against Nagisa's to feel how warm it was. "You're fever feels pretty high."

Karma felt a small twinge of nausea when their foreheads touched, he might have been catching Nagisa's cold, he didn't care. Taking care of Nagisa was the most important thing. Even if he did get sick too.

Nagisa started shaking slightly, so Karma pulled the covers further up onto his shoulder.

"Do you think you could eat something?" he asked in a soft voice not typical for Karma.

Nagisa shook his head slightly. It hurt his head to move it so he stopped almost immediately. Karma frowned at that. "Well you have to eat something, hang on…"

He crept out from under the pillow and a small burst of light seeped in from the crack. Nagisa groaned attempting to burry his face from it.

Everyone was running about starting their day. They were making a conscious effort to try to be quiet around Nagisa, but trying to expect 20+ kids to be quiet was probably a little too optimistic. Even as the table was being set for breakfast and the kids were talking excitedly about what they wanted to do today.

As Karma climbed out from under the pillow and covers he hurried off to the kitchen, so their father peeked around to see what he was up to. Karma had pulled a stool over to the counter so he could climb up on it. At first he thought Karma was trying to steal candy, but he noticed him grab a box of bland crackers, and he started examining the box.

"What are you doing with those?" he inquired.

Without looking up Karma answered him, "Nagisa's tummy is upset, but he needs to eat to get stronger."

He turned the box around so the front faced him. "Will this make him throw up?"

"That should be okay," he answered and Karma jumped down happily hurrying back.

"Are you sure he wouldn't want to just wait and try eating some breakfast?"

"Breakfast!" Karma spun around looking slightly upset, as though their Dad had just suggested Nagisa go out and run a mile in the snow. "His tummy is upset, he can't handle something as big as a whole breakfast!"

With that he spun back around and hurried away with a clearly evident attitude that he was the only one in the whole world who knew what was best for Nagisa. The creature smiled at that though. He was glad to see Karma looking after Nagisa. It was a nice change from how often Karma would make him cry from picking on him.

He turned the corner just in time to see Karma disappear back under the pillows and covers with Nagisa. Two pairs of tiny feet peeked out at the end.

"Are those two going to join us?" Karasuma asked him.

"I don't think so," the creature answered. "But save them a plate in case they get hungry later."

* * *

"Open up!" Karma demanded, but not harshly.

Nagisa shook his head and again stopped immediately because it hurt him. "I don't feel good I can't eat that…"

"This won't make you throw up, Dad said so. So eat it!"

He pushed the cracker against his cheek, and more to get Karma to shut up than anything else he took the edge of it and nibbled on it.

Content, Karma grabbed a cracker for himself to munch on and he reached up with his free hand to run his fingers through Nagisa's hair. Nagisa immediately felt like melting. He had only ate half his cracker but was already half asleep. Nothing was better than being warm and cozy under covers, with Karma running his fingers through his hair. If he wasn't sick this would be the best day ever.

Karma smiled at his face. "I'm jealous of you…"

"Why…"

"It takes next to nothing to make you happy. I wish anything could make me half as happy as petting your hair does for you…"

For some reason, Nagisa had the feeling they had just left the realm of child conversation, and had started something much deeper. So he pretended to be sleepier than he was to avoid it.

* * *

When dinner was over the kids started discussing going outside to play once again. So their Dad gave them a big safety speech and told them not to go anywhere where they couldn't be seen from the house.

Then their Father whet over to see if maybe Karma wanted to go out and play too. He walked over to where they were laying and lifted the pillow off their heads. Nagisa and Karma were both asleep. Cracker crums were all over their blanket and Nagisa was snuggled up next to Karma, their heart strings intertwined.

He smiled at them, sometimes his kids were too cute for words. Slowly he put the pillow back down to block out the light.

When the creature glanced up, he noticed Itona was putting on his boots.

"Whaaaa!" he hurried over to him. "Itona! Where are you going?"

He glanced up clearly thinking this was a stupid question. "I'm going outside to play."

"I don't think that's a good idea, your leg still needs time to recover."

"It don't hurt that bad," he answered reaching up he stepped up onto a near by box and grabbed his coat.

"Itona, I was able to heal the majority of the injury as well as any outward appearance. But there is still some internal—"

"It don't hurt that bad," Itona answered buttoning his coat.

"Still, I think you should stay and play inside."

"Nah, that's okay," he answered before heading towards the door with the others, their was a slight but evident limp to his walk.

Itona was one of the more difficult children to discipline, because the ceature liked to give the children choices, and even though he would often word something as a suggestion, he didn't really mean it as one. Most of the kids would take his suggestion and do as he asked, but not Itona. He was the kind of kid who always wanted to do his own thing and would rarely take hints or suggestions until explicitly being told no.

But the creature didn't like to do that too often, because kids needed options, and needed to have the freedom to decide what they're going to do in a day. Plus he wanted them to be happy, and telling kids no, typically did not make them happy.

This was one of those times though, he would have to put his foot down.

"Itona, you can't go play outside. It's not good for your leg."

*blink*

"You could hurt yourself again, and it's not good to get an injury on top of another injury."

*blink*

"Overly stressing an injury could lead to worse problems."

*blink*

"That's why you are not going outside today."

*blink*

"I mean… well… If you're really careful…"

*blink*

"Oh fine, just go…"

Itona turned back around to face the door, the smallest of grins on his face as he did so.

Karasuma noticed the creature had changed color and was looking as though he were sulking.

"Seriously, could you grow up?" he asked him sighing.

"My gosh," Irina had been watching the whole scene. "What sort of a Dad are you anyway, if you can't even get your kids to do what you tell them to. That's really something you need to nip in the butt or they're going to turn into pretty shitty adul—"

"Alright then let's head on out," Karasuama said loudly interrupting her. He started to try and shoo the kids out the door quickly.

"You know, just because I'm a hooker, doesn't mean I'm not right!" she snapped at him.

"What's a hooker?" Kaede asked pulling on her Father's robe to direct the question at him.

"Uh… it's um… Someone who makes fish hooks for a living. Now go on and enjoy the day," he too started to help Karasuma get the kids out of the house.

"Miss. Irina," the creatured turned to her as the last of the kids had left with Karasuma. "You're planning to stay inside yes?"

"Yeah?" she answered feeling that a request was coming.

"Would you mind watching Karma and Nagisa for me?" he asked.

"Uh, me…"

"Yes, just because you're a hooker doesn't mean you can't babysit right?" he asked grinning.

"Ugh, shut up," she frowned. "I'll watch the brats, just don't be gone all day."

"Thank you," he even bowed slightly. "This might be the last vacation I get to spend with my kids. I'd hate to miss out, but I'll check in on those two periodically."

With that he left to find a number of the girls at the door staring up at him.

"She's not coming?"

"Uh, no. She wants to stay in…" he explained to them.

Rio immediately stomped her foot, "How are we supposed to get Unlce Kara and her together if she doesn't come with us?"

"You're trying to get her to date Karasuma…" He paused a second before a grin suddenly split across his face. "That's actually a great idea!"

All the girls suddenly looked super happy. If Daddy was going to help them, then surely their plans would work. He picked the girls up, "Alright, ladies, it's time to plan!"

* * *

Irina walked into the room where the boys were sleeping and she took out her phone before heading off into the other room. Karma had heard the front door open, but he laid still staring at Nagisa's weakened expression. He was a horrible big brother if he couldn't make him feel better. He eventually decided that doing something was better than doing nothing. So he started to crawl out from un the covers when he felt something stop him. He turned back. Nagisa's blue heartstring had wrapped around his pinky. He never even woke up, but Nagisa's heart had known he was leaving.

"I'll be back," he whispered to it before gently pulling it away.

He could hear Irina's voice in the other room so he started heading towards her.

"Yes understood," she was saying.

"Um Ma'am…"

She jumped spinning around.

"Jesus kid you scared me!" she ended her call rather quickly stuffing it into her boobs. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Are you a Mom?" he asked bluntly and her face suddenly got beet red.

"What the hell makes you think I'm a Mom!?"

"Wide child bearing hips," he said even more bluntly.

"Uh… Bu… That is highly inappropriate! Where the hell did you hear that?"

It had been a line in a movie he wasn't supposed to watch, but that wasn't the important part of this conversation for him. "So… you've never had any children. You're not a Mom…"

"DO I LOOK OLD ENOUCH TO BE A MOM!?"

Karma's frown deepened slightly. "That's too bad…"

"Why?" she snapped.

"Moms know how to make sick kids feel better. I thought you might be able to help Nagisa if you were a Mom."

"…"

"Oh well…" he turned back thinking he would just hold him until Dad came back.

"…wait…"

He turned around looking up into the lady's softened expression. "I may not be a Mom, but I had a Mom once. And as I recall she had a sure fire recipe for a stew that would cure any illness…"

"Really?"

"Want to help me make it?"

"Yeah," he answered hurrying to follower her to the kitchen. Anything that would help Nagisa, he would do it!

So the two of them raided vegetables from the fridge. Karma was too short to reach the top of the counter so she laid down a table cloth on the floor Karma could cut come carrots with a duller than usual knife because she didn't want him cutting himself.

"Now the last ingredient," Irina said. "I got it up stairs in my suitcase. I'll be right back."

With that she left and Karma with the upmost care pushed a chair over to the stew pot and poured the diligently cut carrots into it. This was a Mom recipe, which meant it was going to have extra powers that normal dishes just didn't. Of course all this was based on stories he had heard from the other kids at school.

"Nothing makes you feel better like Mommy kisses."

"When my Mommy hugs me I feel safe."

"My Mommy cooks my lunch every day, and it makes me fuller than meals made by other people."

"When Mom reads me a bed time story, I fall asleep so fast."

It was clear to him that Moms must have powers Dads do not. What he didn't quite realize was most of the kids at their school had father's who worked and Mom's who stayed home. Thus they were there for scary times and able to make lunches and read stories.

But to him, Moms had powers. This was a fact. If Dad powers were enough, Nagisa would be better already. Maybe Dad's were good at physical injuries (he was thinking of Itona's leg) and Mom's were better at sickie injuries. If only their Mom was alive…

Irina came back in holding a small vial which she poured into the stew before mixing it.

"What was that?" Karma asked.

"Medicine," she answered winking at him. "My Mother's secret recipe. So don't even ask for it kid…"

She poured a small bit into a bowl.

"Take this to your friend, and be careful, it's hot," she explained. "I'll save the rest of this dish for later, but he'll need to eat all of it eventually."

"Okay," Karma answered he hurried back to Nagisa as fast as he could without spilling it. Irina sat across from the two of them crossing her legs and folding her arms.

_Dad had always warned them to be careful of strangers. To be leery, but… Karma and the others had never really been betrayed before. They had never really been tricked. The adults in their life, they could trust them whole heartily and go to them with any problem. And when you've never had an adult (or anyone) betray you, or purposely try to hurt you. You don't really have a reason to be cautious. So who could really have blamed him…_

"Open up," Karma urged after he got Nagisa to sit up straight.

"Ahhhhh."

Karma brought the spoon to his mouth and he ate the food on it.

"Bleh…" he made a face.

"Is it yucky?" Karma asked frowning.

"Ugh, it's got medicine in it, what do you expect?" Irina snapped. "If it tasted good it wouldn't make you better. Just eat it already!"

Karma filled the spoon up again bringing it to Nagisa's lips. Nagisa was already dreading the next bite. It tasted really bad...


End file.
